Portland, OR Radio Gets Proactive, Puts Business First

My Business First (MBF) is a first of it’s kind marketing campaign created exclusively by The Portland Area Radio Council that includes an impact video, webinar, on-air commercials, and website. The primary goal is to show radio’s pivotal influence to consumers especially emphasizing using the internet PLUS Radio together. The on-air portion of the campaign drives the listener to the MBF website. This is the most compelling part of the campaign since it teaches the listener and the prospect by example how combining radio and Internet creates strong synergy for media planning and allocation.

MBF also uses state of the art statistics retrieval and captures real data from online prospects hoping to prime the market, open doors, and create new opportunities as the economy improves. This is the first campaign of its kind anywhere in the nation.

This integrative campaign is the brainchild of Melissa Kunde, executive director of PARC. Melissa is also the host of the free MBF Webinar called “Getting to First,” where business owners and marketers can ask direct questions, learn how to utilize Radio, and get first hand info about integrative radio marketing technology.

“Contrary to media industry myth, radio listening has been positively affected by new technology,” said Ms. Kunde. “Studies show that Radio is an influential companion medium in the media mix. This means people listen to radio simultaneously while on the internet or tuning in with their iphone. MBF not only educates business owners about the value of Radio, it proves by example that when you combine internet with Radio you have one of the most powerful marketing combinations in history.”

Dawn Montefusco, Assistant to the Executive Director, told me that it is "A first of it’s kind radio marketing campaign that includes an impact video, webinar, on-air commercials, and website. If you go to the site, you can check out the impact movie which highlights the new power, and value, of Radio."

Kunde hopes to break-through misunderstandings about Radio in the market. The target audience for MBF is decision makers, CEO’s, marketing directors, business owners and advertising agencies. The tracking capability used for all three components is state-of-the- art using video, flash, embedded web coding, and survey questions to grab the prospects attention and lead them down the marketing funnel. All information that is captured is then sent directly to PARC’s computer system for retrieval.

The council's mission is to promote the power of Radio to create fiscal health for both local businesses and the communities that Radio serves. PARC is also the host of the Radio Summit 2010.

Why CRS Is Worth It

"The greatest strength of the Country Radio Broadcasters and CRS is our ability to bring together the most creative, intelligent, passionate, driven individuals in country music.

"It is cliché to say that 'we are greater than the sum of our parts,' but that is exactly what happens.

"Together, magic moments are shared and the enthusiasm is taken back to our respective companies and shared with those on the front line.

"Success happens when great minds get together." -- KMPS/Seattle, PD Becky Brenner to Billboard Country Update's Ken Tucker

Meet the Family

“The better we know our target, the more we can make them a part of our station family, building loyalty and hitting the target where it lives.” - Phillip Beswick, The Media Audit

So, thanks to TMA, A&O's Jaye Albright will be presenting the current qualitative profile of the country format's radio listener as a part of next Tuesday's Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS client seminar at the downtown Nashville main library auditorium. The A&O presentation covers an extensive array of demographic, socioeconomic and consumer shopping information.

For example, TMA shows that country’s Hispanic audience has been growing, though the format continues to be 80% non-ethnic.

The Media Audit, established in 1971, is a syndicated, local market, multimedia, qualitative audience survey measuring radio, radio dayparts, TV channels viewed in total and by dayparts, TV newscast viewing, daily newspapers and other local and regional print publications, exposure to outdoor billboards, direct mail and local market internet websites.

This will be the third qualitative snapshot of country listeners The Media Audit has performed for the Pre-CRS A&O client meeting since 2006.

It has been two years since the last update, so we’ll focus especially on target changes which impact sales and programming.

Surprise! The Super Bowl Was Hot

With a record number tuning in for the Saints/Colts turf war early in the month, it should come as no surprise that Super Bowl XLIV ranked #1 in Big Research's list of What’s Hot this month.

Sandra Bullock and Valentine’s Day fared well, too. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and the Apple iPad are highly anticipated among those under 35, while men 35+ are gearing up for the Daytona 500.

What’s Not?

Although fairly popular with the under 35 crowd, 80.8% of consumers are waiting for the cast of Jersey Shore to take their trite talk and tacky spray tans off the airwaves.

Tripp Eldridge: Does "The Truth" Hurt?

At the December Arbitron Fly-In Eldridge introduced the concept of "Moments of Truth" and equated them to a radio listening occasion:

“For programmers and marketers, the "Moment of Truth" occurs at the point where a consumer turns on the radio and (virtually instantaneously) makes the decision as to which station they're going to listen to. We looked at several PPM markets across all stations and found that, on average, the typical heavy radio listener has thirty-one unique "moments of truth" each week. That's thirty-one times where they turn on the radio -- radio listening occasions. (We used heavy listeners -- those who listen an hour or more a day -- because, while they represent just half of all consumers, they drive nearly all (88%) of the radio listening. However in case you're wondering, we checked and the average light user has just 7 listening occasions during the course of a typical week. The job of a programmer and marketer is to win as many of those ‘moments of truth’ as possible and the best way to do that is to win them first as soon as the radio is turned on.”

Tripp joined dmr as President and Chief Operating Officer in 1998. Prior to that, he spent 15 years in product management, consumer marketing, and media research.

A&O is excited that he'll be sharing "The Truth" and what to do about it at our Pre-CRS Client Seminar on Tuesday, February 23 in Nashville. RSVP now!

The Interactive Media Action Plan

A&O is delighted to have Daniel Anstandig, recently recognized by Billboard Magazine as one of the top five innovators in media and the President of McVay New Media addressing our Pre-CRS client seminar on Tuesday, February 23.

“In 2010, the difference between hitting your budget and not hitting your budget will be interactive advertising. Many of our clients have rewritten job descriptions of key managers in the organization, revised bonus structures to include interactive audience and revenue benchmarks, and adjusted programming and promotions to include on-air and online elements together. Program Directors have been transformed into brand managers. Sellers have been transformed into Client Solutions Specialists, developing marketing plans for their clients that include on-air, online, and on-the-go (mobile) components. The bottom line is that we are still in the business of selling access to audience, whether the audience is on the other side of a radio, computer screen, or mobile phone/PDA.”

...one more reason to RSVP now!

A&O Country Roadmap 2010: 21.3% Of Country Listener Homes Have Only Cell Phones

A&O's annual "Country Roadmap 2010" tech and perceptual survey, tracking usage and content preference trends among listeners to Albright & O'Malley client stations, went into the field on January 26 and will continue through February 14. Already, more than 7,000 respondents from almost 100 radio stations all over the U.S. and Canada have completed the survey.

“Based on this partial sample, it appears that the format has positive momentum with 42% of our respondents saying they are listening more to their local country stations and only 7.9% thus far, saying they are listening less,” according to Michael O’Malley, who will report on the research at A&O's Pre-CRS client seminar in Nashville on Tuesday, February 23.

Last year more than 14,000 listeners in the US and Canada took part in our online poll with each participating station receiving breakouts from their listeners as well as listeners nationwide.

It appears that this year’s final sample will be even larger.

Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS Client Seminar
Tuesday, February 23, 1-5pm
Nashville Downtown Library Auditorium, 615 Church Street, Downtown Nashville (a walkway to the library goes through the Bridge Bar and parking garage)
Open to non-clients in non-competitive situations by invitation only.
Sponsored by Lyric Street Records

"Like The Amazing Kreskin And Seth Godin Morphed Into One Guy!"

Yes, I did say that and I mean it.

If you come to A&O's Pre-CRS Seminar on Tuesday, February 23, you'll want to be in your seat right from the start.

Mentalist/former radio programmer Eric Samuels has been a high-profile player in Canadian radio for more than twenty-five years, recognized as one of the country's top broadcasters. He helped fashion the sound and focus of contemporary Canadian radio through his position as Senior Vice President of Programming for one of Canada’s largest national broadcast chains.

His presentation on how we and our listeners acquire our perceptions and make decisions will be the talk of CRS. Don’t miss it. He will also be opening the ‘Hot Topic’ panel on Friday at the CRS as well, so while everyone at CRS is gasping in amazement, you can say you saw him first!

Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS Client Seminar
Tuesday, February 23, 1-5pm
Nashville Downtown Library Auditorium, 615 Church Street, Downtown Nashville (a walkway to the library goes through the Bridge Bar and parking garage)
Sponsored by Lyric Street Records

Agenda:

1-1:20 - Tyler Dickerson Lyric Street Records artist
1:25 - 2:40 - Mentalist/former radio programmer Eric Samuels - Keynote on decision-making and perceptions
2:40-3;10 - Mike O'Malley - AO Country Roadmap national perceptual
3:15-3:55 - Daniel Anstandig - Interactive Media Action Plan
4:00-4:25 - Tripp Eldridge - Moments of Truth which grow or lose your listeners
4:30-5 pm - Jaye Albright/Phillip Beswick: Meet the Family 2010 Media Audit Country Qualitative

It's going to be well worth your time and attention! RSVP to Michael O'Malley or me, now.

Livin' Large, Livin' COLD To Help Haiti

Broadcaster lives in hut to raise money for Haiti

It is sacrifices like this (click to watch the video) being made by Larry Wilson (Livin Large Larry), Ops. Mgr./Air Talent for Gapwest/Billings which make you proud to be in the radio business.

Yeah, it's snowy and cold, and that's bad enough.. but he also missed the Super Bowl too! (or is that a generator next to his frosty hut?)

Everybody Likes (Carrie) Surprises

In case you missed it Thursday night in Nashville, click to watch a replay of this clever stunt produced by WKRN Channel 2 on a young CMA Music Festival fan.

She loves the event and convinced 13 friends and family to join her this year. Her only wish in an email she sent to CMA, was that Carrie Underwood perform.

Carrie (around her full Super Bowl schedule) called to share the news with Riley, first. Her reaction is precious. Producers at the studio had tears in their eyes. It has a really sweet emotional quality to it – and they put it together in 12 minutes after getting stuck in horrendous traffic yesterday afternoon going back to the news room. A great buzz builder by the always-engaging Brad Schmitt!

So, yes, I like surprises.. unless it's true that Howard Stern is really headed to next year's American Idol...

It's Time To RSVP

AGENDA COMPLETE FOR ALBRIGHT & O’MALLEY’S 2010 PRE-CRS CLIENT SEMINAR
The event is cosponsored with Lyric Street Records, debuting Tyler Dickerson Tuesday, February 23, 1-5pm Nashville Downtown Library Auditorium, 615 Church Street, Downtown Nashville (a walkway to the library goes through the Bridge Bar and parking garage)

Agenda:
1-1:20 - Tyler Dickerson Lyric Street Records artist
1:25 - 2:40 - Mentalist/former radio programmer Eric Samuels - Keynote on decision-making and perceptions
2:40-3;10 - Mike O'Malley - AO Country Roadmap national perceptual
3:15-3:55 - Daniel Anstandig - Interactive Media Action Plan
4:00-4:25 - Tripp Eldridge - Moments of Truth which grow or lose your listeners
4:30-5 pm - Jaye Albright/Phillip Beswick: Meet the Family 2010 Media Audit Country Qualitat

Country radio specialists Jaye Albright and Michael O’Malley (click on either name to RSVP) are presenting yet another reason to attend this year’s Country Radio Seminar and arrive a day early. The consultants have lined up a four-hour slate of presentations, speakers and special events for their clients who are attending CRS, and now they are opening their Tuesday, February 23 meeting to the public by invitation only at the downtown Nashville Library Auditorium.

Anyone who works for an A&O client station has received their invitations now, and if you don't compete with an Albright & O'Malley client, you're also invited (free). But, you do need an invitation.

Meet Marty Forbes

If you love radio, I know you'll like his blog:

It’s too easy to say what’s WRONG with radio. It’s fun to think about what is RIGHT about the business and there are a ‘great number’ of people working on the next generation of “media.’

A Cautionary Tale

(click here to read the entire story) A former KVI-AM, Seattle promotions coordinator was charged Tuesday with first-degree theft for allegedly rigging a radio contest to pocket some of the winnings, and 14 others allegedly involved in the scam were charged with second-degree theft.

Yes, it's illegal. Of course, it's illegal. But, worse, do you want to see your name (and probably your face too) on TV, on competing radio stations, in the papers?

There's a word for this: S-T-U-P-I-D. Enough stupid to go around, from the top down.

Driving, Looking Only In The Rear View Mirror

There have been many great articles written in the last several years since Arbitron and BBM started rolling out the Portable People Meter in the U.S. and Canada designed to help programmers and personalities know what to do when their station is monitored by PPM.

This is not going to be one of them.

An extensive high tech cottage industry has emerged providing sophisticated tools for broadcasters to study the behaviors of radio listeners as they listen to radio. BBM has InfoSys, ARB has PDA web, RCS has Media Monitors, Audience Reaction and MScore, ROI has PPM expertise, Cornerstone Research has XTrends, Research Director has Instant Answer, to name just a few.

I must confess: I love and am addicted to them all.

However, having spent hours pouring over reports which tabulate and even can play actual air checks as you graph panelist usage, I also have to say that it all comes down to this:

Bill Drake was right; Rick Sklar was correct; Chuck Blore got it; Mike Joseph understood, to name just s few of radio's very best and most successful programmers.

More than that, they created stations that executed 24/7 like the legends they have become. I bet they’d all do just fine in PPM measurement.

A great programmer intuitively recognizes entertaining, compelling, interesting, engaging, don’t-miss-a-minute radio when she/he hears it.

The trick is not analyzing it, but teaching, training, motivating talent to do it so consistently that listeners notice and a station becomes famous for it, which drives regular usage – several times a day, more days per week than its competition.

If you doubt it, then you absolutely need to get the analytical tools and spend the many hours it will take you to compare what average listeners are doing while we do what we do.

After all, there are only four possible actions as you listen to the radio:

1) turn a station on,
2) turn a station off,
3) change from a station to another one or
4) change from a different station to yours.

All the technology which PPM has enabled, at this point, still makes you wait from eight days to as much as five weeks to compare what radio did to what listeners did.

Perhaps the reason for that lag time is because the suppliers and ratings companies are fearful that we can’t handle to watch it in real time as yet, but you know that day is coming.

There’s no need to wait for that event. I can tell you what you’ll find out:

• Radio listeners love interesting personalities who never bore them, relate to their lives, make them feel connected and never waste their time, who talk to one person about common concerns, not about themselves.
• They want to feel up to date.
• Almost half of them change stations or turn the radio off when irritating commercials which insult their intelligence come on.
• They listen longer and more often to radio stations which they can count on to play fewer commercials than more cluttered ones.
• They like their favorite songs. The change stations when ones they dislike come on.
• They hit their presets when it sounds like a station is taking a break of any kind from what they enjoy for something (anything) else.
• The more entertainment value they receive for time spent the more regularly they come back to a personality or station.

Luckily for all of us, we already have two very useful pieces of equipment which can help improve a station’s performance in PPM, diaries, phone surveys or whatever methods media buyers use to evaluate as they spend their dollars.

Ears.

Use them.

Listen objectively to your station with the same critical thinking skills that radio’s most skillful programming executives have always employed.

You don’t need a device to measure whether your brand is so strong that lots of people have high expectations when they turn to your place on the dial and your implementation is so consistent that you never fail to exceed them.

You do need a person with judgment, communication, the ability to prioritize and motivational skills as well as the strength to fight for the needs of the listener.

Someone who is able to see what’s ahead, on both sides of you as well as what happened last week or last month.

Someone who doesn’t just call him/her self a Program Director, but is one.

Everything A Personality Or Programmer Needs To Know About PPM Has Already Been Written

Naw, of course NOT. But, here are a few very good reads on the topic (click the name to view their contribution to the dialogue):

• Richard Harker and Glenda Shrader
• Sean Ross
• Steve Dahl
• Randall Bloomquist
• Neal Bocian

Yes, as you'd imagine, I do have something to add. I'll post it Tuesday morning at 6:00 am.

Predictions That You Can Be Sure Are 100% Currect = Demographics

.. because the births which drive them have already happened.

The baby boom turns 64 this year.

On January 1, 1946, an 18 year period known as the post-war baby boom began. In 1946, 3.4 million children were born in the U.S. 78 million babies were born from 1946 to 1964: so, 10,000 people will turn 64 each day for the next ten years.

There are 68 million people who are 65+ today, 44 million are 33 to 44 and 72 million are under 32 (some would draw the cohort line a year or two younger than that today, calling them Millenials and positing that their defining years were the turn of the new century and 9/11).

Today's Gen Y and senior citizens are the biggest demo targets of 2010.

Common threads that reach both: fun, lifestyle and family. The smaller in number, but acquisitive age demos in between feel ignored and misunderstood.

Musical preference and attitude differences greatly outnumber similarities.

Fragmentation and niche marketing will continue to proliferate.

Finding common passions for Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts fans versus those who prefer Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn and George Strait is going to get to the point that it may become impossible soon.

Kaiser: MP3 Players (41 minutes a day) #1 With Teens, Radio And Their Comupter #2 (32 Minutes Per Day)

The transformation of the cell phone into a media content delivery platform, and the widespread adoption of the iPod and other MP3 devices, have facilitated an explosion in media consumption among American youth. players.

A national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that with technology allowing nearly 24-hour media access as children and teens go about their daily lives, the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth.

Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time 'media multitasking' (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.

Generation M²: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds is the third in a series of large-scale, nationally representative surveys by the Foundation about young people's media use. It includes data from all three waves of the study (1999, 2004, and 2009), and is among the largest and most comprehensive publicly available sources of information about media use among American youth.

Free Nashville Concert For McGraw-Paltrow Flick (But, No Tim Performance)

A concert that is being filmed for the new country music movie Love Don’t Let Me Down, starring Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow and the public is invited (free).

The show and filming take place Tuesday, Feb. 2, at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville. Extras should plan to stay from 4-11 PM.

McGraw will welcome the crowd but will not perform, since the scene being filmed is the big comeback concert of Paltrow’s character, superstar “Kelly Canter.”

Playing Kelly’s opening acts are Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester and Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy). The music being used is by Nashville tunesmiths. The Lost Trailers will also entertain fans with an acoustic set.

Admission is free and participants must be at least 18 years old. E-mail to request tickets. Concertgoers are encouraged to donate new or slightly worn shoes for Soles4Soul’s Haitian relief efforts.

Taking Attendance In Baltimore

George Strait and Reba kicked off their co-headlining arena tour with Lee Ann Womack Friday night in Baltimore.

A Washington Post photographer and of course radio was there, but didn't any of the local papers or TV stations send a music reviewer? I guess that means they knew it would be a great show.

Many people may think this is the first time the superstars have toured together, but they actually shared the stage in the early 1980s, opening for Conway Twitty. We asked Reba what she remembers about that early tour together. “The first time George and I toured together was in the early 80s, opening the show for Conway Twitty,” notes Reba. “One weekend of the tour, I had flown into the city we were playing instead of riding the bus with the band and crew. I got a call from my tour manager and he said the bus had broken down and they were renting a school bus to get to the show. I asked them to be sure and get me an outfit out of my stateroom so I’d have something to wear at the concert that night. When we all met up at the show, they had gotten all the equipment, band gear, everything they needed to put on a show…except an outfit for me! I had to wear the same clothes I had flown in all day! George invited me to ride on his bus the next day. I sure enjoyed visiting with George and his group.” Needless to say, thankfully, Reba’s not having to worry about a bus breakdown this time around! -John Zarling, Valory Music Co.

What To Do When A Label Promotes Radio On NOT Playing A Song?

Music discovery still drives a lot of radio usage, so smart programmers aggressively play defense anytime another station or medium grabs a hot, new buzz track. Of course, you want your listeners to feel that they hear everything they might possibly love from your station, so they never need to worry that they might be missing anything during the time they spend with you.

Playing everything, obviously, isn't the way to do that. Judgment is part of a smart programmer's daily toolkit and choices must be made.

As record labels lose the highly-profitable CD album as their revenue source, they are trying alternative marketing techniques, many flying below the radar so as to avoid fan confusion on which of multiple current releases is "the hit."

Joe Nichols' label has been asking radio to play one song, an upbeat novelty, while Joe has been on TV talk shows, the video channels, online and in his concerts performing a very moving personal narrative which his fans have been calling radio, requesting.

Kenny Chesney cut a hot, fun tune for ESPN last fall that was released as a single to iTunes and other music download sites in December, just as his label is imploring radio to wait until Monday, February 8, for the release to radio of "Ain't Back Yet", which is from his 3D movie retrospective of last summer's arena tour. What listener wouldn't expect to hear both of them on their favorite country station?

Not to be outdone, with her benefit telethon performance last night, Taylor Swift added a critically-acclaimed possible third new song for radio to be playing today "Breathless," originally recorded by Better Than Ezra (and of course every song on the Haiti fund raiser is also available on iTunes too).

Add that to her new album's title cut, which is being promoted to radio and also her song from a new movie which she's doing on TV trailers and appearances, and just debuted at #1 on iTunes only last week.

Whew!

When does "music discovery defense" end and total confusion begin?

With radio playing 20 to 30 currents these days (except for the first hour of the four hour countdown shows), certainly we can't expose half of them by just three or four superstars (or can we? You'd probably lose your reporting status if you did try that, a fate - some seem to feel - that is the same thing as becoming completely invisible).

Programming has always been about figuring out what listeners care most about right now and prioritizing/reflecting those values in the most entertaining ways. There's too much going on every day to expose and talk about, let alone play, everything.

Great radio makes life simpler for listeners by filtering what they want and need to know about.

Winning radio makes the right choices.

Seemingly, never more so than right now.

What’s Hot…Not: Taylor Swift + Home Cooked Meals

Combine budget-friendliness with a desire to stay indoors to avoid the frigid temperatures, and you’ll have a recipe for homecooked meals, which tops the list of what’s hot for January.

Those under 35 also favored Taylor Swift, Modern Family, and New Year’s resolutions, while the 35+ crowd is looking forward to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Reusable shopping bags and thrift stores followed among earth- and budget-conscious consumers.

What’s Not?

While his departure from American Idol is garnering a lot of buzz, this was probably a good career choice, as 85.5% of consumers feel that Simon Cowell has passed his primetime.

Mary Beth Garber Stands Up For Radio

December, Media Life ran an article headlined "Outlook for radio in 2010: More struggle" That got the SCBA Exec Director’s dander up. (click to read her fact-based rebuttal)

"Contrary to media industry myth, radio listening has been positively affected by new technology."

Today every computer, virtually every MP3 and iPod, and any cell phone capable of downloading apps is streaming radio’s over-the-air content.

Which helps explain why approximately nine out of 10 people of all age groups listen to radio each week, far more than any other medium except broadcast television (RADAR 103, December 2009).

And why the average person spends between about two and a half to three hours or more each day with broadcast radio (Nielsen, RADAR, Arbitron, Scarborough and The Media Audit).
In fact, people spend more time with broadcast radio than they spend with any other form of audio (Council for Research Excellence’s "Video Consumer Mapping – How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio," October 29, 2009).

Virtually all of that radio listening is done live, in real time. It's the only mass medium that can make that claim.

Country Radio Mobilizes Haiti Aid

Compassion International has been in Haiti for over 40 years serving hundreds of thousands of children and families. When the military is retracted and most of the other charity groups are gone, Compassion will remain in country.

On February 1st Compassion is mobilizing a one-day national radio event to help country radio listeners bring hope to a devastated country, desperate for both immediate and long-term solutions.

I am currently asking any radio group or syndicated show to partner with us. I understand some stations are already involved with specific charities through NAB or their own local affiliation, but there are so many who aren’t directly connected to anyone and would like to plug in to a legitimate and trusted organization. Especially to a charity group with 30+ years and significant ties within the music industry and who can help make it country format specific. - Mike Severson

If radio stations would like to do something on February 1st, or even before like KKGO/Los Angeles is currently planning, we just need to have collaboration to expediently put it in place. Individual stations can then run it through our online tool kit.

If you are willing to help in this effort or have any questions, contact former Midas Records, Rounder and All Access Exec Severson.

How Long Should We Give 'Em?

Country Aircheck's chart doesn't list the number of weeks songs have been on their airplay ranker, but Billboard does, and I suspect that number may be very instructive.

Luke Bryan's "Do I" took 37 weeks to peak at #5 right after the New Year and remained in the top ten, trending from #5 to #7 last week, it's 38th chart week.

Country Aircheck no longer counts it as a current and instead makes it their second-ranking "Top Recurrent."

How many weeks does it take for a song to get to the point that it's no longer "current?"

Aside from Bryan, there are only three additional songs that have been charting for close to 30 weeks, Gary Allan/Today (alive for 29 weeks last week), Sarah Buxton/Outside My Window and Jason Michael Carroll/Hurry Home (28).

The oldest current ranking between #31 and 40 has been on the chart for 21 weeks (Lee Brice/Love Like Crazy) still had a bullet last week and between #41 and #50, 23 weeks (Mallory Hope/Love Lives On) had no bullet.

Is it that when your NAME is "Hope" you don't need a bullet to keep a few stations spinning your music for coming up on six months?

Before You "Assume The Position..."

First, it was just "Country," "Continuous Country" followed, as did "Today's Country Favorites."

Then, NBC-TV had a mid-season replacement show back in the 90’s called "Hot Country" and "Today's Hot New Country" and "Today's Country" was born. Followed by "Young Country" as more competitors entered the fray.

"New Country" still proliferates. But also, as a means of differentiating current-intensive country stations from more mainstream approaches, we positioned some of them as "Hit Country." Along the way, we have also recommended - in various competitive situations - "Real Country," "Pure Country," "Hotter Country," "Better Country." Fresh Country. Today’s Country. 12/15/20/30-in-a-row country.

Maybe it's time we call a halt to all this ludicrous name-calling and remember one thing: all of our listeners seem to call it country. Some older ones even still term it country-western. Many say they came to country because they were turned off by rock and rap/rhythmic CHR. But, to most folks, it's all simply country music.

Given that reality, why would you call your country station "rock?" I don't think you would IF you knew about that reality. Most of the other words probably don’t “hurt,” but it’s important to keep in mind that position statements were innovative three decades ago. The book whose cover is shown above was first published in 1981.

Do today’s listeners believe any of them?

Which gives me cause to say: before you name your radio station anything, I'd recommend you ask your listeners what they call the stuff they like most. Listen to the terms they use and simply call it one of those things. It will make your marketing efforts much easier.

There is no doubt you can coin a phrase and give it meaning by doing tons of TV and direct marketing. For example, since I was in on the development of the first “Young Country” station, KDDK in Little Rock, thank you Hank Williams Jr., I feel that "Young Country" worked in many places because it isn't so much a style of music as it is an attitude, a playful approach, given meaning in the minds of passionate fans by excellent marketing. Another of the original "Young Country" stations is WYCD/Detroit, which now positions at Detroit's Country.

You can market to older people by being young, but you certainly can't sell many young folks by being old.

But, I just don't think you market to them by being "Rockin'" or "Wild."

Yes, over the years there have even been some “Wild Country” stations, which goes counter to everything I believe about country listener values.

Country listeners enjoy fun, compelling, content-driven relationship interactive radio. The kind of people who are drawn to country music are foreground listeners, family oriented, patriotic, care about the environment but definitely do NOT seem themselves as rebellious.

Over the last three decades, I have been a part of naming country stations WOW-FM, Bob, Kat Country, Froggy, the Rebel, the Mountain, KOLT, and many other mnemonic devices. So, I am always looking for clever, fresh ideas for names and positioning niches.

But, just because it's new doesn't make it good. I ask you: why would folks who fit the country psychographic profile be tempted to listen to you? Why would you want to do a country approach that wouldn't appeal to the heaviest users of the format?

Something tells me that in time "Rockin' Country" and "Wild Country" will join other non-descriptive phrases that have been piled on the radio positioning junk heap over the years: Classics of yesterday and today, Full service radio and Easy rock.

How's YOUR Security?

Keith Berman has it right: A troubled person, armed with a gun, makes his way inside your inner sanctum and demands to see one of your personalities. How would you react?

Sometimes, it takes a close call like this to remind our readers to please review your own safety regulations and security procedures so that a dangerous situation like this can be avoided at your station.

A&O's Annual Pre-CRS Client Seminar

What a DAY to have chosen to send out the first press releases about Albright & O'Malley's February 23 (1 to 5 pm, just prior to the DJ Hall Of Fame banquet) annual client meetings!

Also in reporters' email boxes yesterday: news of the demise of ARB's Michael Skarzynski, 18 markets fail to get PPM MRC accreditation, Sarah Palin's announcement that she's contributing to Fox News. Whew!

When you send out news of a meeting that has been going on for as long as the A&O Pre-CRS Client Seminar, you pray for a slow news day as your only hope for ending up on page one of a trade magazine or two in spite of having "the best agenda ever."

Heck, "what could possibly happen?," I asked myself yesterday as I hit "send" on my release to the trade media.

Dixie Chicks are back in the studio? They chose yesterday to make the announcement?

So, it's just possible that you may have missed the first press on our client seminar. In the event you'd like to read a little "slow news," click here (pdf).

Is radio a "dying medium for music?"

This email hit my in box today:

========================================

Hi Jaye,

In his latest Lefsetz Letter, that relentlessly negative industry blogger, Bob Lefsetz, made the following “prediction” about the future of terrestrial radio, which he called “ a dying medium for music.”

Here’s what he said:

“The stations are overleveraged, or already in bankruptcy, and they're cutting back infrastructure and banking on 20-plus minutes of commercials per hour. You're supposed to double down, innovate in a crisis. But terrestrial radio has done just the opposite. It's dying, and it will never come back. In a world where no one experiences a commercial they don't want to, do you really expect people to listen to what you tell them and be sold to every third minute? You're dreaming.

“Terrestrial radio will be about news and talk, those elements that are immediate,” he continues.

“Music's been recorded previously, there's no urgency to sit through the b.s. to hear what you want to.”

I’m reaching out to a handful of smart people to get a rebuttal or response to Bob’s opinion, and was hoping you might have a few minutes to make a short comment between now and Wednesday for a story in Stark Country/Radio-Info.com.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Best regards,

Phyllis Stark
Executive Editor, Country Music
Radio-Info.com/Stark Country

========================================

Phyllis,

Lucky for me, you don't even need to be a smart person to debunk this line of thinking. Facts trump baseless assertions every time.

In just the last eight weeks here are a few other statements Bob made:

* "The number one thing a fan wants? To be able to go backstage."
* "Music used to be regional."
* "Most of what the major labels create is not fully desirable. It’s made to run up the radio chart, not to do live business."
* "The younger generation has embraced Led Zeppelin, can they ever embrace the Moody Blues? I think so."
* "The hardest thing to do in this business is find a hit act."
* "The Black Eyed Peas tour is a stiff."
* "Cadillac driver? Must be an oldster."
* "Rock and roll doesn’t work on TV."

A provocateur requires no facts to back up his outrageous and over-the-top statements. He's just trying to elicit a response. He is a verbal terrorist, setting off written explosions in hopes someone will panic. Lefsetz, in my experience, never likes anything that's mass appeal or popular. The best way to make him disappear is to ignore him.

Arbitron's 2009 Edition of "Radio Today" has 109 pages of facts and data which demonstrates the continuing story for radio overall is its remarkable, enduring reach. Far more than 90% of all consumers aged 12 and older listen to the radio each week—a higher penetration than television, magazines, newspapers or the Internet. PPM-measured data does show average quarter-hour (AQH) ratings were lower than what would otherwise have been reported using an all-Diary methodology. At-home AQH ratings in Fall 2008 were 22.2% below those in Spring 2007, while away-from-home figures were 18.8% lower. These differences should not be regarded as actual declines or losses in listening, but as a shift in measurement methodology.

Lefsetz may see that as signs of impending death, but I sure do not. Despite availability of numerous media alternatives, radio’s weekly reach declined only modestly in the past several years,from 94.9% in Spring 2001, when the iPod®was introduced, to 91% in Fall ’08, according to the latest ARB national ratings data.

Nielsen, The Media Audit, Edison Research, Bridge Ratings, Eastlan/FMR, BBM and many other researchers and numerous studies around the world corroborate these trends. Music radio tends to drive even stronger usage in metered measurement than it has in diaries.

The CMA' s 2nd Annual Study of Country Music Consumers, which will be made public at CRS-41 is just the latest in many, many proofs that country music radio remains - by far - the top source of music discovery for country music's Prime Prospects.

Allow me to add my voice to the chorus of folks crying "B-S" to Lefsetz's screed. The possibility of his predictions coming true anytime in the next decade is about as good as running into John Hogan, Fareed and the Dickey Family at Jerry Delcolliano's "Future of Media" seminar.

-J.

Jaye Albright, Consulting Partner,
Albright & O'Malley Country Consulting/RadioIQ

PS: do YOU have something to say to me, Phyllis or Bob Lefsetz? Please post a comment below!

The Undeniable Reba

She sent her fans an email Saturday giving them credit for her record-breaking three weeks in a row at #1 on the spin charts (and, today, it looks like she could possibly even get a 4th, given the fact that most countdown shows start by playing last week's #1 song again, helping her maintain a 200 total weekly spin advantage over the other contenders for the top spot on Monday morning's national "advances" on next week's rankers).

Jason Aldean has the fastest-growing top five song, judged by increased spins in the last seven days, but it still appears that Dierks Bentley and Tim McGraw will be #2 and #3, giving #4 (as of this morning) Aldean next week's charts to be their battleground for #1.

As always, there are many moving parts like that to the timing of any success, but it's still very classy to share the achievement with her local and longtime street team members publicly instead of her very aggressive promotion people, (who no doubt will also get rewarded for their achievements, but more privately).

We could all learn a lot about humility, customer service, personal reinvention to stay relevant, relationships, branding, quality and relatability of product as well as very well-executed competitive marketing - driven by a desire to do what it takes to stay on top - from this very savvy superstar.

Being On A Mission From Radio

Much has been written about creating mission statements for teams.

Here are a few tests to use as you plan for 2010 and rethink your organization's purposes and goals.

It is stated in a way that (click the links for examples):

* Expresses a higher purpose or ultimate meaning of the organization
* Gives direction to daily work
* Encompasses all tasks and members
* Is clear enough to be understood by all members
* Is brief enough to be remembered by all members
* Is not necessarily measurable

A&O is always delighted to work with your staff to help define what listeners expect from you, your strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities and what commitments you're prepared to make to exemplify and personify your core values.

Dave Van Dyke: Pandora TSL Drop Is Due To Boredom

The newer the Pandora consumer the higher the satisfaction level. Over time, though, the satisfaction level is affected by "fatigue or boredom." Make no mistake that even those Pandora users who have been using the service for more than three years, retain high levels of satisfaction, but responses for the service being "Just OK", "Somewhat Dissatisfied" and "Very Dissatisfied" increase the longer the user experiences the service.

The Bridge Ratings President blogs that this is "The Decade of Radio Cannibalism."

Terrestial radio has it problems, but - fortunately for us in 2010 - a "bored" audience isn't one of them (at least not yet).

Lets resolve to improve our content and entertainment value to keep today's loyal listeners engaged.

Blogs I Can't Top And Won't Even Try

Today, I want to send you to a pair of great blogs which make important points, worthy of your attention:

Greater Media Chairman & CEO Peter Smyth: In radio, every first quarter is a battle to prime the revenue pump, but this one stands out as the most critical Q1 in years.

Tom Kelly and Paul Kelly: In Kelly Music Research’s national telephone survey, only 4% of music station P1’s exhibit Extreme Fan behavior. 96% of those polled can be described as Normal Fans.

As in all forms of research: it is important to carefully-design the questions but also to fully understand to whom you are asking them!

Weird Theory: Cledus T. Judd And Scott Lindy Are The Same Person

Think about it. Have you ever seen the two of them in the same place (i.e., when one left Atlanta last year, the other one arrived)

2010 Ad Trends (A Radio Adaptation)

Verizon Wireless' current commercial, in which the carrier touts its 3G cellular coverage as better than rival AT&T's

Suzanne Vranica’s Wall Street Journal short list:

1. Rough-and-tumble sales pitches taking direct aim at competitors
2. Other companies will show their softer sides. In the bleak aftermath of the recession, many marketers think consumers will respond to brands they perceive as giving back to the community
3. Fewer actors and more animated characters (cheaper to produce)
4. Social-network personalities make their way to mass-media stardom
5. TV viewers see more split screens that give them a glimpse of what is going on behind the scenes of a show while a commercial runs on the other side of the split (hoping to avoid TIVO ad skipping)
6. Mobile advertising (maybe for real this year?)
7. Fewer big-name celebrities and athletes pitching for brands, thanks to Tiger Woods
8. Consumers volunteer their personal information in return for getting the ads they want to see

Radio, fortunately, has faced "ad skipping" for decades, so we "should" be the experts at maintaining audiences through our commercials, which are in the spotlight on center stage, giving listeners only three choices: listen through them, change stations or turn the radio off.

Better, more creative commercials build higher listening levels, get measurably better results and make it possible to charge higher rates.

There is a radio resolution for 2010!